The record number of applicants included numerous excellent and exciting projects that the jury would have loved to make part of the selection. In a general trend, several of the projects are based on femininity, the state of nature and the climate, as well identity and belonging. They also deal with the physical connection to traumas, thoughts and fears about the future. Another recurring thematic trend is the use of text, and the connection between language and the body as a choreographic catalyst. In only one of the projects was the choreographer not a performer – a clear trend that we consistently see in every season of the Choreography Laboratory.

In making its selection, the jury chose to focus on the project’s choreographic skills and its potential for performance and physical exploration. Their aim is to foster an artistic laboratory which not only provides an opportunity for physical and choreographic exploration, but also allows the artists to explore the technical potential of the theatre in relation to the project’s choreographic concept.

The record number of applicants that we received once again shows that there is a real need in this general field for more presentation arenas, and for projects like the Choreography Laboratory.

Out of a total of 55 applications, 3 projects were selected for the Choreography Laboratory 2024.

These are the projects that make up the selection:

Oliver Paulsson: CMOS Retina (working title)
Three cameras take photos at different intervals. Wires run from wall to wall, and from floor to ceiling. A printer churns out paper. A sole performer moves around the space in a kind of chaotic yet calculated pattern, in order to be in front of each camera at the moment the shutter releases. This game produces a dance and a series of photographs – a kind of hybrid between a dance piece and a photo exhibition created through a symbiosis between person and machine, investigating and questioning the human subject’s relationship with the technology.

Oliver Paulsson is a Swedish dance artist based in Oslo. He trained at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and graduated with a BA in contemporary dance (2021). Since then, he has been working in the field of contemporary dance and the commercial field. He is passionate about photography and programming, and his aim is to incorporate these interests in his artistic practice.

Lou Ditaranto: How to Sit Like the Devil
How to Sit Like the Devil is a project between dance artist Lou Ditaranto and musician Kristoffer Lislegaard. The project is based on an exploration of a queer female body’s experience of ecological changes, and how these can be reflected through an embodiment of “the wild woman” (Pinkola Estés, C. 1992). Together we will explore concepts like the keyword “shapeshifting,” and whether it is possible to create a safe, interactive space with the audience.

Lou Ditaranto was born in France and grew up in Trøndelag, and is based in Oslo, having graduated with a Master’s degree from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance (2020). She has worked as a performer with companies including Punchdrunk (The Burnt City, 2023), Hege Haagenrud, Yaniv Cohen and Panta Rei Dance Theatre, and her interests are the interaction between the body, the world around us, imagination, sound and illustration. She has also presented her own works on platforms like Mind the Gap, Dans / 5, Dialogscenen (NORA) and Dans i Prosess (FNND), and has been involved in an exploration of the Outlining method, a process-practice that combines illustration, writing and movement.

Kristoffer Lislegaard is an electronic musician and producer based in Oslo. Since 2010, he has been composing, performing and releasing music as a solo artist, in a variety of duo projects and ensemble formats, where he combines genres like ambient music, noise music, post-rock, club music and more. He has also worked as a composer and sound designer on projects spanning contemporary dance, theatre, film, art installations, poetry and performance art. Through a variety of formats and contexts, his music takes different forms, from calm and meditative ambient music to beat-driven, glitched-out rhythms and washed-out noise.

Jonathan Ibsen / Bjørk Mynte Paulse: Egis
Egis is a performance art project investigating queer aggression and vulnerability and the relationship between them. It discusses what it takes, maybe even what it costs, to enter a space that others take for granted. We use the idea of “invulnerability” to carve out a space where the queer body is allowed to be strong, visible, aggressive and dominant. Egis aims to challenge restrictive mindsets by fantasising about a speculative space where queer logics and fantasies can run wild and unfettered.

Jonathan Ibsen is a Danish dance artist who studied at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. As an artist, his focus is on the contemporary body and how it can act as a communicative instrument in order to confront, challenge and create dialogue. His work seeks to contextualise problems associated with socially constructed norms and understandings. Through his practice, he tries to create a space where the body can materialise more freely.

Bjørk-Mynte has a background in classical ballet, and she is a former student of the Royal Theater Ballet School Odense. She went on to qualify with a Bachelor’s degree in contemporary dance at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in 2018. She then continued as a freelancer and teacher in contemporary dance, until she joined the Holstebro Dance Company in spring 2021. There she contributed to productions including “The Danish Girl”, “Sandmanden”, “Björk” and “Traum”. She was nominated in 2022 for a Reumert Award for her leading role in The Danish Girl and her role in Sandmanden.

On the jury panel for the Choreography Laboratory 2024 were:

Ina Christel Johansen – choreographer
Ina Christel Johannessen (ICJ) qualified as a choreographer in 1984 from the Norwegian National Academy of Ballet (KHIO), and immediately embarked on her career as a choreographer. This has resulted in 74 dance pieces, both in Norway and internationally.
ICJ established the Zero Visibility Corp company in 1996, and has thrilled audiences all over the world. The Sydney Opera House, Théâtre National de Chaillot (Paris), Place Des Arts (Montreal), Sadler’s Wells (London), Mercat de Flores (Barcelona), Movimentos (Wolfsburg), Bregenz Festival and Belgrade Dance Festival are a few of the venues to which the company has been invited. More than 70 dancers have been affiliated to Zero Visibility over a period of 25 years.

Johannessen has also been commissioned by companies like Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Australian Dance Theatre, CCDC Hong Kong, Cullberg Ballet, Gothenburg Opera Dance Company, State Theatre at Gärtnerplatz in Munich, Danish Dance Theatre, Iceland Dance Company, Helsinki Dance Company, Oldenburg TanzTheater, Scottish Dance Theater, Royal Swedish Ballet and ITDanza Barcelona.

The close relationship with Carte Blanche has also been important, and has resulted in 14 full-length pieces. Most of these also toured internationally, most notably “3 o’clock in the afternoon.”
Ina received the Critics’ Award for Ambra, created for Carte Blanche and the Iceland Dance Company. Some of the pieces she has created for Den Norske Opera & Ballett are: Scheherazade, Desolating Persephone and Rite of Spring.
In 2024, she will take up the role of Director of Opera in Bern, Switzerland.

Rina Rosenqvist – dance artist
Rina Rosenqvist is a Norwegian/Venezuelan dance artist with a BA in performance dance from the University of Stavanger (2016). Rina works as a performer, co-creator and creator in a range of artistic contexts and constellations (performance art, theatre, visual art). She has worked for artists including Bananaz, Ludvig Daae, Ida Wigdel, Inés Belli, Linda Birkedal, Theater F, Goro Tronsmo, Hagit Yakira, Roskva Yasmin Andersen, Live Skullerud, Mari Angell and Infopsin. Her own work has been performed at Dansens Hus, RAS, Bærum Kulturhus, LungA Festival (Iceland) and List í Ljósi (Iceland). Rina has also been an active driving force in establishing and running the Montebøllo Art Collective, a work space and hub for freelance artists from different disciplines in Oslo.

Jonas Øren – dance artist
Jonas Øren has a Bachelor’s degree in classical ballet and a Master’s degree in dance from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, and has worked with dance and choreography on his own projects and on commissioned works, for the stage, museum and gallery spaces, film and television. He works as a dissemination consultant at Dansens Hus, was an editor for Danseinformasjonen’s SKEIV BEVEGELSE publication, and will also act as a mentor in the Choreography Laboratory 2024. In his artistry, he is interested in using dance and choreography to investigate self-presentation, self-creation and strategic identity production, both on and off the stage. He achieves this by looking at aspects of popular culture, the art market and queer sub-culture. His choreographic work includes Emmerich Kálmán’s operetta Czardasfyrstinnen (directed by Hanne Tømta) for Den Norske Opera, and has performed his productions at venues including Dansens Hus, Rosendal teater, RAS, Sprang Landsdelscene, Teater Vestland, Teaterfestivalen i Fjaler, Gloppen Musikkfest, Trondheim Art Museum, Bergen Dramatikkfestival, Caleido Festival (RO), NRK, Oslo Pride and KOREDA. Øren was also involved in establishing the Montebøllo work space and artists’ collective.